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9/8/2009 - Added revised assassin and eldritch knight PrCs.8/28/2009 - Changed swashbuckler to medium BAB and two good saves. Also restricted its ability to use Extra Granted Maneuvers and added some Int synergy class features.8/27/2009 - Edited ranger based on some suggestions. Most notably, removed a few of the less useful space-taking abilities like Instinctive Cartographer and Pathfinder. Also removed some of the clutter from Dragon Shaman, so it no longer gets Low-Light Vision, Darkvision, and DR/magic.

Introduction:

In my opinion, there are numerous classes in 3.5 that have a lot of potential but are just not fun. You end up doing the same thing over and over with very little variety, unlike casters or ToB classes who have numerous options in battle. I also despise dead levels and try to remove them wherever I go, as well as limit MAD where I see it, since both of these come at the detriment of the classes that have them. Thus, this is my attempt at fixing a few a few classes to make them more fun to play.

A warning I should make first: I'm of the philosophy that balance isn't really the most important aspect of D&D. This isn't PvP, so in my opinion, it's not that important that casters are Tier 1 while ToB is only Tier 3, as long as everybody can have fun and nobody's out to break the game. And so, these revised classes will have a higher power level than before. Generally, I'm aiming for a ToB level of power, though some may over or undershoot this measure. Nothing should be more powerful than full casters though (unless they already are full casters), and nothing should be more powerful than wizard/cleric/druid.

Maneuvers: You begin your career with knowledge of a single maneuver from the White Raven discipline. As you grow in levels, you learn additional White Raven maneuvers, as seen on the table above, up to the maximum of 5 at level 17. You must meet a maneuver’s prerequisites to learn it. You do not need to ready your maneuvers; all maneuvers you know are considered readied for you, and you may access all of them every encounter.

Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even marshal level after that (6th, 8th, 10th, and so on), you can choose to learn a new White Raven maneuver in place of one you already know. In effect, you lose the old maneuver in place of the new one. You can choose a maneuver of any level you like, as long as you observe your restriction on the highest-level maneuver you know. You can swap only a single maneuver at any given level.

You begin an encounter with all of your known maneuvers unexpended, regardless of how often you’ve used them before. When you initiate a maneuver, you expend it for the current encounter, so each of your readied maneuvers can only be used once per encounter unless you recover them.

You can recover all expended maneuvers with a single swift action to catch your breath. You cannot initiate a maneuver, change your stance, or change your auras while you are recovering your maneuvers, but you can remain in the same stance and auras in which you began your turn.

Stances Known: You begin play with knowledge of one stance from the White Raven discipline. At each level in which you gain a maneuver, you also gain knowledge of one additional White Raven stance. Unlike maneuvers, stances are not expended, and you cannot learn a new stance at higher levels in place of an old one you already know. All stances you know are available to you at all times, and you can change the stance you are currently using as a swift action, along with your Minor and Major Auras if you so choose. It takes only a single swift action to change your stance, Minor Aura, and/or Major Aura all at once.

Auras (Ex): As before. You may take a single swift action to change your stance, Minor Aura, and/or Major Aura all at once. Your auras affect all allies within a range of 20 ft + 10 ft per class level.

Minor Auras - As before, but the bonus granted by these auras is capped by your class level. So a level 3 marshal with 18 Charisma can only grant a bonus of +3 using Minor Auras. If he later gains a level, he can then grant a bonus of +4 instead, fully utilizing his +4 Charisma modifier.

Available Minor Auras are:

• Accurate Strike: As before.
• Art of War: As before. Also, add in this bonus to Aid Another checks in combat.
• Battlefield Resolve: Act as if under the effects of the Diehard feat. While under the effects of this aura, you don’t die until your HP is less than -9 − 5 * bonus. So under a marshal with a +4 bonus aura, you can have HP down to -29 without death.
• Demand Fortitude: As before.
• Determined Caster: As before.
• Endure Heat: Gain 5 * bonus fire resistance. If the bonus is 6 or higher, gain fire immunity instead.
• Endure Cold: Gain 5 * bonus cold resistance. If the bonus is 6 or higher, gain cold immunity instead.
• Endure Shock: Gain 5 * bonus electricity resistance. If the bonus is 6 or higher, gain electricity immunity instead.
• Force of Will: As before.
• Master of Opportunity: As before.
• Master of Tactics: As before.
• Motivate Endurance: Gain bonus to Strength and Constitution ability checks and Concentration checks.
• Over the Top: As before.
• Watchful Eye: As before.

Major Auras - As before, but you gain your first Major Aura at level 4.

Available Major Auras are:

• Battle Vigor: Each time you hit an opponent for melee damage, you regain 5 * bonus HP per hit.
• Diligent Watchmen: Gain bonus to Spot, Listen, and initiative checks.
• Dominating Presence: Gain bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate, as well as the DC of Frightful Presence and Daunting Voice abilities if applicable. You also add this bonus to HD or class levels to determine whether enemies can be affected by the Frightful Presence.
• Hardy Soldiers: As before, but gain DR/- equal to double the bonus. So, with a level 10 marshal you would gain DR 4/- under this aura.
• Motivate Ardor: As before.
• Motivate Attack: As before.
• Motivate Care: As before.
• Motivate Insight: Gain bonus to Decipher Script, Knowledge, and Spellcraft skill checks as well as Intelligence ability checks.
• Motivate Urgency: As before, but gain 10 * bonus rather than 5 * bonus to speed, applied to all speeds, not just land. Also, add the bonus to Climb, Jump, Ride, and Swim checks.
• Resilient Troops: As before.
• Steady Hand: As before.

Bolstering Voice (Ex): You gain the ability to rally your allies in battle. As a standard action once per encounter, you call out to your allies to bring their courage to the surface. Any ally within range of your auras (20 ft + 10 ft per class level) that can hear you gain ½ your class level (at least 1) as morale bonus to save against fear effects for 1 minute. In addition, any ally currently suffering from fear effects immediately gain a chance to reroll their saves with the granted bonus. This ability can be and is often used when recovering maneuvers.

This ability improves as you progress in the class:

Guiding Voice (5th): When you use Bolstering Voice, your allies also gain the morale bonus to saves against charm and compulsion effects. In addition, allies already suffering from those effects are able to immediately reroll their saves against them.

Reinforcing Voice (9th): When you use Bolstering Voice, your allies become stronger and more enduring, gaining the morale bonus to saves against death effects. In addition, allies also gain temporary hit points equal to 2 * (class level + Cha modifier). The bonus and temporary hit points last for 1 minute.

Daunting Voice (13th): When your use Bolstering Voice, your voice draws fear in enemies even as it strengthens your allies. Enemies within the area that can hear you must make a Will save (DC 5 + ranks in Intimidate) or become shaken. Enemies that fail the save by at least 5 become frightened instead of shaken, and those that fail by 10 or more become panicked. Creatures that cannot understand your language gain a +2 bonus to their save, while creatures with an Intelligence score of 3 or less gain an additional +2 to the save.

Rousing Voice (17th): When using your Bolstering Voice, your allies take heart at your leadership and will allow themselves to be even more motivated by your stirring orations. For 1 minute, you may project two Minor Auras instead of just one. You immediately choose one additional Minor Aura to project when using this ability and it takes only a single swift action to switch all of your auras and stance at once.

Skill Focus (Diplomacy): As before, but comes at level 2.

Leader’s Courage (Ex): A true leader must be brave and calm in battle, lest his troops be disheartened by his cowardice. At 2nd level, you learn to see fear as an abstract, operating calmly even when events would have you do otherwise. You are immune to the effects of fear.

Battlefield Tactics (Ex): As Grant Move Action, but comes at level 3 and is per encounter rather than per day. Every 4 levels after that, gain another use of this per encounter, until 19th level when you can use this at will. This ability can be and is often used on a turn when recovering expended maneuvers.

Legionnaire (Ex): Starting at 6th level, you gain a cohort. This cohort can be of a particular common race and must have an alignment that doesn’t oppose your own on any axis. The cohort has levels in warrior equal to your class level and uses the Elite Array to determine abilities. Any equipment costs for the cohort must come from you. This cohort does not count when determining the party’s XP, and does not gain XP normally. Instead, the cohort’s level is automatically raised when you increase your class level. You attract an additional cohort at 10th, 14th, and 18th levels.

If a cohort is killed or otherwise retired, you may gain a replacement by spending 3 days in a town or populated area to recruit a new one. You still must supply this new cohort with equipment.

Leader’s Will (Ex): A true leader must avoid undue influences in order to judge impartially and gain his followers’ trust. At 7th level, you become immune to charm and compulsion effects.

Leader’s Endurance (Ex): A true leader must not fall even in the deadliest of battles, lest his troops be left without a leader to guide them. At 13th level, you become immune to death effects.

Leader’s Determination (Ex): A true leader must be persistent until the end. He must never lose heart, never give up, and never let others unduly affect his judgment. At 19th level, you become immune to all mind-affecting effects caused by enemies.

Legion of Steel (Ex): At 20th level, your renown spreads wide and far and you’re hailed as a great and mighty general all over. You gain followers (but not cohort) as if you have the Leadership and Epic Leadership feats. If you already have those feats, you instead gain a +4 leadership bonus for attracting followers.

Supreme Leadership (Ex): At level 20, your leadership skills have reached new heights. You can now maintain two different Major Auras at the same time. It takes only a single swift action to switch every aura and/or stance all at once.

• Energy Shield: As before, but damage is 4 * bonus rather than 2 * bonus.
• Power: As before.
• Presence: As before, but also adds bonus to the DC of Frightful Presence if applicable. Additionally, you add this bonus to HD or class levels to determine whether enemies can be affected by your Frightful Presence.
• Resistance: As before, but resists 6 * bonus rather than 5 * bonus. At +5 bonus, this becomes energy immunity instead.
• Senses: As before.
• Toughness: As before, but grants 2 * bonus DR/- rather than 1 * bonus DR/magic.
• Vigor: As before.
• Energy: (Dragon Magic) As before.
• Insight: (Dragon Magic) As before, but adds bonus to Intelligence ability checks as well.
• Spell Power: (Dragon Magic) As Aura of Power found there.
• Resolve: (Dragon Magic) As before, but also apply bonus to compulsion and charm effects. Once bonus is +5, grant immunity to all these effects instead.
• Stamina: (Dragon Magic) As before.

Totem Dragon: As before.

Breath Weapon (Su): As before, but uses d8’s rather than d6’s and starts at level 2 with 1d8 damage. This starts as a 15 ft cone or 30 ft line at level 2, but becomes a 30 ft cone or 60 ft line at level 8, a 45 ft cone or 90 ft line at level 14, and a 60 ft cone or 120 ft line at level 20.

Skill Focus: As before.

Natural Armor (Ex): As before, but these bonuses come at levels 2, 7, 12, and 17.

Draconic Adaptation (Ex, Sp, or Su): As before. When sharing your Draconic Adaptation after level 13, you may share it with all allies within your aura’s radius (25 ft + 5 ft per class level).

{table=head]Dragon|

Draconic Adaptation

|

Effect

Black|

Water Breathing (Ex)

|

As before.

Blue|

Ventriloquism (Sp), Ghost Sound (Sp)

|

You can cast Ventriloquism and Ghost Sound as at-will Spell-Like Abilities.

Green|

Water Breathing (Ex)

|

As before.

Red|

Treasure Seeker (Ex)

|

As before.

White|

Icewalker (Ex)

|

As before. You also gain the effects of Spider Climb on icy surfaces.

Brass|

Endure Elements (Sp)

|

As before.

Bronze|

Water Breathing (Ex)

|

As before.

Copper|

Spider Climb (Sp)

|

As before.

Gold|

Water Breathing (Ex)

|

As before.

Silver|

Cloudwalker (Su)

|

You can walk on clouds as if they are solid surfaces. This ability is continuous but may be negated or resumed at will as a free action.

[/table]

Draconic Wings (Ex): At level 2, you grow a set of wings that resemble those of your totem dragon. For now, these wings are weak and cannot carry your full weight in actual flight. These wings can aid in jumping, providing a +10 bonus to Jump checks. If you already have wings, you can decide whether these draconic wings replace your own.

They also allow you to glide in the air, negating fall damage from any height and allowing 20 ft of forward movement for every 5 ft of descent. You glide at a speed of 30 ft (average maneuverability). Even if your maneuverability improves, you cannot hover while gliding. You cannot glide if carrying a heavy load, and your glide speed decreases to 20 ft if carrying a medium load. If you become unconscious or helpless in the air, your wings naturally unfurl and stiffen, causing you to descend in a tight corkscrew that reduces your fall damage to 1d6, regardless of the distance fallen.

At level 7, you are able to fly at a speed of 30 ft with average maneuverability (or 20 ft when carrying a medium load). You cannot fly when carrying a heavy load or while fatigued or exhausted. You can safely fly consecutively for a number of rounds equal to your Constitution modifier. You can exert yourself to fly twice that long but you become fatigued at the end of that flight. You are likewise fatigued if you spend more than 1 minute per class level per day flying. Because you can glide before, after, and between rounds of actual flight, you can stay in the air for extended periods without being fatigued.

By 15th level, you have enough stamina to fly for longer periods. You can fly at 30 ft with average maneuverability (or 20 ft with a medium load) with no more exertion than walking or running. This improves at 19th level so that you fly at a speed of 60 ft with good maneuverability (or 40 ft with a medium load).

Draconic Resolve (Ex): As before.

Touch of Vitality (Su): As before, but use Constitution instead of Charisma to determine how much you can heal.

Energy Immunity (Ex): As before.

Frightful Presence (Ex): At level 9, you gain Frightful Presence similar to that of an actual dragon’s. Whenever you attack, charge, or fly overhead, enemies within a radius of 25 ft + 5 ft per class level are subject to this effect if they have fewer HD than you have class levels. A potentially affected creature must succeed on a Will save (DC 5 + ranks in Intimidate) to become immune to your Frightful Presence for 24 hours. On a failure, creatures with 4 or less HD become panicked for 4d6 rounds and those with 5 or more HD become shaken for 4d6 rounds. Dragons ignore the Frightful Presence of other dragons.

Dragon Ally (Sp): At 11th level, you gain the ability to call a dragon to do your bidding in exchange for payment. You can now cast Lesser Dragon Ally (Spell Compendium) as a Spell-Like Ability once per week. Your caster level is equal to your class level and you do not need to pay the XP cost for the spell. The called dragon must be of the same type as your totem dragon. You still must pay the requisite amount of payment for the dragon’s services, but you need only pay half the amount listed by the spell. While bargaining, you may attempt to further reduce the price by half by succeeding on a Diplomacy or Intimidate check opposed by the dragon’s Sense Motive, but a failure means you double the price instead (to the original value listed in the spell description).

At level 14, this ability improves to become Dragon Ally instead of Lesser Dragon Ally, allowing you to call a dragon of up to 18 HD rather than 15 HD. At 17th level, this improves even more to become Greater Dragon Ally, allowing you to call a dragon of up to 22 HD. Finally, this takes its ultimate form at 20th level, allowing you to call a dragon of up to 25 HD rather than 22. You still can only use this ability once a week and you still need not pay the XP cost for the spell.

Blindsense (Ex): At level 12, you gain Blindsense extending up to 30 ft. This improves to Blindsense 60 at level 18.

Greater Adaptation (Ex or Sp): At level 13, you gain a greater form of your Draconic Adaptation, allowing you a further ability based on your dragon totem. This Greater Adaptation may not be shared with allies. Your caster level for all Spell-Like Abilities is your class level and the DC is 10 + spell level + Cha modifier.

{table=head]Dragon|

Greater Adaptation

|

Effect

Black|

Deeper Darkness (Sp)

|

You can cast Deeper Darkness as an at-will Spell-Like Ability.

Blue|

Minor Image (Sp)

|

You can cast Minor Image as an at-will Spell-Like Ability.

Green|

Water Wings (Ex)

|

You gain a swim speed of 60 ft.

Red|

Locate Object (Sp)

|

You can cast Locate Object as an at-will Spell-Like Ability.

White|

Freeze Surface (Sp), Chill Metal (Sp)

|

You can cast Freeze Surface and Chill Metal as at-will Spell-Like Abilities. Freeze Surface is as Grease, except can only be cast in an area, covers a 20 ft square, lasts 1 min/level, counts as a 2nd level spell, and causes the surface to be icy and frozen (for Icewalker).

Brass|

Speak with Animals (Sp), Tongues (Sp)

|

You can cast Speak with Animals and Tongues as at-will Spell-Like Abilities (self only).

Bronze|

Water Wings (Ex)

|

You gain a swim speed of 60 ft.

Copper|

Stone Shape (Sp)

|

You can cast Stone Shape as an at-will Spell-Like Ability.

Gold|

Daylight (Sp)

|

You can cast Daylight as an at-will Spell-Like Ability.

Silver|

Fog Cloud (Sp)

|

You can cast Fog Cloud as an at-will Spell-Like Ability.

[/table]

Commune with Dragon Spirit (Sp): As before, but you receive one question per class level. You may ask these questions separately over the course of a week, as long as the total over any given 7 days does not exceed your class level.

Double Aura (Su): At level 20, you gain the ability to emanate two different draconic auras at the same time. When you spend a swift action to change your aura, you may select two different auras and activate both in the same action. Both auras take effect as normal.

All of the following are Class Features of the arcane archer prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: An arcane archer is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and light armor.

Spells per Day/Spells Known: When a new arcane archer level is gained, you gain new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if you had also gained a level in whatever spellcasting class in which you can cast 1st level arcane spells before you added the prestige class level. You do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If you had more than one arcane spellcasting class in which he could cast 1st level spells before you became an arcane archer, you must decide to which class you add each level of arcane archer for the purpose of determining spells per day.

Enhance Arrow (Su): At 1st level, every nonmagical arrow an arcane archer nocks and lets fly becomes magical, gaining a +1 enhancement bonus. Unlike magic weapons created by normal means, the archer need not spend experience points or gold pieces to accomplish this task. However, an archer’s magic arrows only function for her. For every two levels the character advances past 1st level in the prestige class, the magic arrows she creates gain +1 greater potency (+1 at 1st level, +2 at 3rd level, +3 at 5th level, +4 at 7th level, and +5 at 9th level).

Imbue Arrow (Sp): At 2nd level, an arcane archer gains the ability to place an area spell upon an arrow. When the arrow is fired, the spell’s area is centered on where the arrow lands, even if the spell could normally be centered only on the caster. This ability allows the archer to use the bow’s range rather than the spell’s range. It takes a standard action to cast the spell and fire the arrow. The arrow must be fired in the round the spell is cast, or the spell is wasted.

Bonus Feat: You gain bonus feats at levels 2, 6, and 10. These bonus feats must be selected from the fighter feat list.

Arrow of Magic (Sp): At level 3, you gain the ability to place a touch spell upon an arrow. As a swift action, you may cast a touch-range spell onto one of your arrows. That arrow must be fired in the same round to utilize the spell. If the arrow hits, it passes on the effects of the spell onto its target. If it misses, the spell is wasted. You can fire this arrow in any manner, including during a full attack.

Seeker Arrow (Su): At 4th level, as a free action made before every attack, you may choose to expend a spell slot of 1st level or higher for this ability. Doing so causes subsequent arrows fired in the same round to become Seeker Arrows, up to a total number equal to the spell level of the slot expended. Seeker Arrows may be launched at any target known to you within range, and the arrow travels to the target, even around corners. Only an unavoidable obstacle or the limit of the arrow’s range prevents the arrow’s flight. Seeker Arrows negate cover and concealment modifiers, but otherwise the attack is rolled normally.

This ability may be used on any attack you make, including an arrow fired during a full attack or fired as part of Imbue Arrow, and you may use it any number of times per round as long as you have slots to expend.

Arrow of Eyes (Sp): At level 5, you learn to transfer your senses through your arrow. As a standard action, you may expend a spell slot to fire an Arrow of Eyes. For prepared casters, this spell slot must contain a Divination spell. For spontaneous casters, you must know a Divination spell of the same spell level as the slot expended (Heighten Spell can be used for this). An Arrow of Eyes leaves a magical sensor at the location in which it lands, through which you can see as if you had cast Clairvoyance there. If the arrow struck a creature, the sensor moves along with the creature. This sensor lasts 1 minute per spell level of the spell slot expended.

In addition, the sensor gains extra senses depending on the spell slot expended. This bonus is cumulative, so spending higher level slots also grants all of the abilities given by lower level slots. A 1st level slot only allows you to see normally in the area, as the spell Clairvoyance. A 2nd level slot grants the sensor Darkvision for 120 ft around the sensor. A 3rd level slot also allows hearing at the location. A 4th level slot adds See Invisibility to the sensor, and also allows it to see in magical darkness for 120 ft. A 5th level slot gives the sensor Blindsense for 120 ft as well as the ability to sense smells in the area, while a 6th level slot grants it Blindsight for 120 ft and the ability to sense temperature in the area. A 7th level slot gives the sensor Mindsight for 120 ft and allows you to telepathically communicate with any minds the sensor detects. An 8th level slot bestows a True Seeing effect on the sensor, letting it pierce all illusion and magical concealment effects. Finally, a 9th level slot bestows to the sensor a Foresight ability, allowing you to know everything that goes on in its area even before they happen (you gain Foresight’s bonuses only against attacks that originate or appear in the sensor’s radius of detection).

Phase Arrow (Su): At 6th level, as a free action made before every attack, you may choose to expend a spell slot of 1st level or higher for this ability. Doing so causes subsequent arrows fired in the same round to become Phase Arrows, up to a total number equal to the spell level of the slot expended. Phase Arrows may be launched at any target known to you within range, and the arrow travels to the target in a straight path, passing through any nonmagical barrier or wall in its way. (Any magical barrier stops the arrow.) This ability negates cover, concealment, and even armor modifiers, but otherwise the attack is rolled normally.

This ability may be used on any attack you make, including an arrow fired during a full attack or fired as part of Imbue Arrow, and you may use it any number of times per round as long as you have slots to expend. You may even use this ability along with Seeker Arrow (for example, to get around magical barriers) but you’d have to expend slots separately for each ability.

Quiver of Magic (Su): At level 7, you gain the ability to place a touch spell upon multiple arrows. As a swift action, you may cast a touch-range spell onto a batch of arrows. For the rest of the round, every arrow you fire is imbued with the spell, causing everyone hit by the arrows to be affected by it. A single target may even be hit by the same spell multiple times. This ability applies to every attack you make with an arrow that round, including those made during a full attack.

Versatile Enchantments (Su): At 8th level, when firing an arrow empowered by your Enhance Arrow class feature, you may choose to shift some of the enhancement bonus from Enhance Arrow to become arrow special abilities instead. For example, you can shift a +1 enhancement bonus to become the Flaming special ability instead, and then change a +2 bonus to become Shocking Burst. You may fire the arrow with enhancement bonus and special abilities in any combination, as long as the arrow still has at least a +1 enhancement bonus left and the total enhancement bonus (counting special abilities) does not exceed your normal maximum (+4 or +5 at level 9). You may choose a different combination for every arrow you fire.

Hail of Arrows (Su): Upon reaching level 10, you gain the ability to shower magical death upon a vast number of enemies. Once per encounter, as a full-round action in lieu of your regular attacks, you may fire an arrow at each and every target within range, to a maximum of one target for every point of base attack bonus you have. Each attack uses your full attack bonus, and each enemy may only be targeted by a single arrow. These still count as attacks, so you may endow these arrows with abilities such as Seeker Arrow and Quiver of Magic.

Spells: As before, but you gain spellcasting beginning at 1st level as shown on the table. In addition, your caster level is equal to your class level.

Favored Enemy (Ex): At 1st level, a ranger may select a type of creature from among those given below. The ranger gains a +2 bonus on Bluff, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks when using these skills against creatures of this type. Likewise, he gets a +2 bonus on attack and damage rolls against such creatures.

At 5th level and every five levels thereafter (10th, 15th, and 20th level), the ranger may select an additional favored enemy from those given on the table. In addition, at each such interval, the bonuses to skills, attack and damage to all previously selected favored enemies (not including currently selected one) increase by 2.

Categories of Favored Enemies:

• Aberration and Ooze
• Animal and Magical Beast
• Construct
• Dragon
• Elemental and Outsiders (Elemental) - Includes all Outsiders with Fire, Water, Air, or Earth subtypes and without an alignment subtype.
• Fey and Plant
• Giant and Monstrous Humanoid
• Humanoid (Small) - Includes all naturally Small humanoid races such as halflings, gnomes, kobolds, and goblins. Though they’re not technically Small, dwarves and dwarven subraces are also included in this category.
• Humanoid (Other)
• Outsider (Other)
• Undead
• Vermin

In addition, each time a ranger’s bonuses to one favored enemy grows higher, he gains a special ability related to that enemy. These special abilities are separately determined for each favored enemy you have, based on the bonus to skills/attack/damage/AC on that favored enemy. All these special abilities are extraordinary.

At +2 bonus, you gain half your class level to Knowledge checks to identify members of the favored enemy and find their special powers and vulnerabilities (see Knowledge skill).

At +4 bonus, you gain a specific special ability depending on type of favored enemy:

• Aberration and Ooze: You can make critical hits, deal precision damage, and flank against oozes (normally, oozes are immune to critical hits, precision damage, and flanking).
• Animal and Magical Beast: You cannot be detected by the Scent special quality.
• Construct: You can make critical hits and deal precision damage against constructs (normally, constructs are immune to critical hits and precision damage).
• Dragon: You are immune to the Frightful Presence ability.
• Elemental and Outsider (Elemental): For the purposes of the Earth Mastery ability, you are always considered off the ground. For the purposes of the Air Mastery ability, you are never considered airborne. For the purposes of the Water Mastery ability, you are always considered touching the ground.
• Fey and Plant: You can make critical hits and deal precision damage against plants (normally, plants are immune to critical hits and precision damage).
• Giant and Monstrous Humanoid: You gain half your class level as dodge AC against rock projectiles (such as a thrown boulder or a pebble shot from a sling).
• Humanoid (Small): Whenever you gaze upon an Illusion (Figment) spell or effect, you immediately gain a Will save to disbelieve it as if you had interacted with it.
• Humanoid (Other): Gain Bluff, Disguise, Gather Information, Intimidate, and Sense Motive as ranger class skills.
• Outsider (Other): You gain half your class level to Spot checks to reveal creatures that changed shape (such as from an Alter Self spell or a Change Shape special ability; see Disguise skill).
• Undead: You can make critical hits and deal precision damage against undead (normally, undead are immune to critical hits and precision damage).
• Vermin: Your weapon deals half damage to swarms and you can flank swarms (normally swarms are immune to weapon damage and cannot be flanked).

At +6 bonus, any weapon you wield against members of this favored enemy (including natural weapons and unarmed strike if you have the Improved Unarmed Strike feat) is treated as a bane weapon against it (its enhancement bonus is increased by 2 and it deals +2d6 points of damage). This doesn’t stack with similar abilities, such as the Bane weapon special ability.

At +8 bonus, you gain a specific special ability depending on type of favored enemy:

• Aberration and Ooze: All tentacle attacks against you are treated as if having half their normal reach (they still retain at least 5 ft of reach). Creatures with tentacles do not threaten you with them if you are outside the area of this new reach.
• Animal and Magical Beast: When making a rushed Wild Empathy check (see Diplomacy skill), you do not take any penalty. Instead, taking the normal full minute to make a Wild Empathy check grants an additional +5 bonus to the check. Also, you do not receive a penalty for attempting a Wild Empathy check on a magical beast.
• Construct: When attacking with a slashing or piercing weapon (including an arrow), you may choose to take a -2 penalty to the attack in exchange for having the weapon do bludgeoning damage instead. You may decide this separately for each attack you make in a round.
• Dragon: When saving against breath weapons, you receive a bonus to the save equal to half your class level.
• Elemental and Outsider (Elemental): You gain fire resistance equal to class level. You also gain half your class level to all saves made to avoid or escape a Whirlwind or Vortex ability.
• Fey and Plant: You gain half your class level to saves against the spell-like abilities of fey.
• Giant and Monstrous Humanoid: You gain half your class level as a bonus to grapple checks to resist grapples and Escape Artist checks to escape grapples.
• Humanoid (Small): When attacking a creature of a smaller size category than you, gain +1 to attack for each size category that you are larger.
• Humanoid (Other): When making a trip or disarm check, you gain half your class level as a bonus to the check. This does not stack with the bonuses provided by Improved Trip or Improved Disarm. In addition, you do not provoke attacks of opportunity when making a trip or disarm attempt.
• Outsider (Other): Whenever you deal damage to a creature with an attack, that creature loses the benefit of its Fast Healing ability for a number of rounds equal to half your class level.
• Undead: All of your attacks gain the benefit of Ghost Touch.
• Vermin: You gain immunity to all poisons and diseases.

At +10 bonus, you gain a specific special ability depending on type of favored enemy:

• Aberration and Ooze: You can no longer be detected by the Blindsight or Mindsight abilities.
• Animal and Magical Beast: Enemies cannot use Improved Grab, Rake, Constrict, or Pounce against you. You automatically succeed on all saves against the Trample special ability.
• Construct: All of your attacks count as adamantine for the sake of damage reduction and penetrating hardness.
• Dragon: You cannot be detected by Blindsense or Darkvision. In addition, all of your attacks count as magic for the sake of piercing damage reduction.
• Elemental and Outsider (Elemental): You gain Tremorsense over 30 ft whenever you touch the ground. You are immune to fire. You can breathe underwater.
• Fey and Plant: All of your attacks count as cold iron and silver for the sake of piercing damage reduction.
• Giant and Monstrous Humanoid: Against an attack made by a creature of a bigger size category than you, you gain +1 to dodge AC per size category that you are smaller.
• Humanoid (Small): Whenever your forces are outnumbered by enemy creatures of suitable challenge, you gain ¼ your class level as morale bonus to attack and damage rolls.
• Humanoid (Other): You automatically confirm critical threats against all creatures of the same size category as you.
• Outsider (Other): If you are of a Good alignment, your attacks now count as Good for the purpose of penetrating damage reduction. If you are of an Evil alignment, your attacks now count as Evil for the purpose of penetrating damage reduction. If you are Neutral with regards to Good and Evil, you may decide whether to align your attacks of Good or Evil when receiving this ability, and your decision may never be changed without a change in alignment.
• Undead: You gain half your class level to all saves against death effects, energy drain, and negative energy effects. If such an effect does not normally allow a save, you gain a Fortitude save (or another appropriate save, as determined by the DM) to negate it.
• Vermin: Against attacks by creatures of a smaller size category than you, gain a +2 bonus to natural armor AC per size category that you are larger.

Track: As before.

Wild Empathy (Ex): As before, but add your Wisdom modifier rather than Charisma modifier to the check.

Bonus Feat: At 2nd level and every 3 levels after (5th, 8th, 11th, etc), you gain a bonus feat. You must meet all requirements for the feat. You may select this feat from the following list:

Skirmish (Ex): At 3rd level, you deal an extra 1d6 damage on all attacks you make during any round in which you move at least 10 ft. This extra damage on applies on attacks made during your turn. The extra damage counts as precision damage, and does not affect nonliving or incorporeal creatures or those without a discernable anatomy. You must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach such a spot. You can apply this extra damage to ranged attacks while skirmishing, but only if the target is within 30 ft.

At level 6, the extra damage increases by 1d6. In addition, now, on any round in which you move at least 10 ft, you gain a +1 bonus to dodge AC. This bonus lasts as soon as you have moved 10 ft and lasts until the start of your next turn. Moving multiple times in one round does not increase the bonus granted, though this stacks with all other sources of dodge AC.

Every 3 levels afterward, you gain an additional 1d6 extra skirmish damage as well increase the dodge AC for movement by +1.

Woodland Stride (Ex): As before, but gained at 4th level.

Woodland Hunter (Ex): When reaching 4th level, you may now make “get along in the wild” checks while moving at your full overland speed at the normal DC 10 without penalty (see Survival skill).

Fast Movement (Ex): Starting at 5th level, you gain a +10 ft bonus to your land speed as long as you are on natural terrain or natural ground. This bonus increases by +10 ft every 6 levels thereafter, as shown on the table. You do not gain this bonus if you are wearing medium or heavy armor or carrying a medium or heavy load, or if you are in an artificial or manmade setting (like a city).

Natural Instinct (Ex): An experienced ranger learns the subtleties of the natural world, allowing you to sense even the smallest disturbance upon that serene visage. As you progress through the class, you gain a number of additional senses to model your increased understanding of nature and your developing link with the natural environment. These senses only apply when you are in a natural setting, such as in a forest, desert, or natural cave. You are unable to use these senses in locations such as cities or manmade buildings.

Scent: At 7th level, you gain the Scent special ability, allowing you to notice unfamiliar or out of place odors in natural places.

Blindsense: At 13th level, you are extremely attuned to the natural environment, allowing yourself to realize even the smallest of disturbances around you. You gain Blindsense over 30 ft in a natural setting.

Foresight: At 19th level, your understanding of the natural world is so thorough and your instincts are so sharp that you can make accurate predictions of the next few moments simply by reading the natural signs around you. You are constantly treated as under the effects of Foresight when in a natural setting.

Woodland Sprint (Ex): At 7th level, you gain an improved version of your Woodland Stride ability. You may now move at your normal speed through thorns, briars, and overgrown areas that have been magically manipulated. You do not take damage or suffer any other impairment, since you become immune to such magical effects.

Evasion (Ex): As before, but gained at 10th level.

Nature’s Messengers (Sp): Upon reaching 11th level, you gain the ability to call upon the aid of wild creatures as scouts or messengers. Once per day, by meditating in an area for 1 minute, you may call upon the service of 2d8 creatures from the surrounding area. These creatures stay with you for a number of hours equal to your class level. This ability only works if there are natural creatures that can reach you in the area, generally within 1 mile of your location, though the distance may be smaller underground. These creatures are usually small, mobile critters like birds, bats, rats or fishes, whatever fits the environment you are in.

These creatures are initially helpful towards you, and you may command them using either a Handle Animal check or directly using a Speak with Animals spell. You may add half your class level to any Handle Animal checks to control or communicate with them. If you use Speak with Animals, you do not need to roll a check. These animals understand simple commands like Come (DC 5), Go (DC 5), Follow (DC 5), Search (DC 10 or more if you’re searching for something complex), Fetch (DC 15), Scout (DC 20), Deliver Message (DC 25), and other simple commands. These animals are generally ineffectual at combat, and are rarely used for those purposes.

If you send an animal to scout and it comes back to you, you may hold the creature to know what it had seen and sensed while scouting. This requires holding the creature for 1 full-round per 10 minutes of its memories you want to see. If you send an animal to deliver a message, it will travel for up to one day per class level to deliver it. You may identify the target of the message by touching the animal to give it a mental image of the target and convey the target’s approximate location. If you have not met the one you want to send a message to, you must have some other way of identification, such as with a picture, a description, or an item carrying the target’s scent. You cannot deliver a message to someone whose general location you do not know, unless you also command the creature to search for the target (adds +5 to the DC, or more if the area to search is very large).

Camouflage (Ex): As before.

Hide in Plain Sight (Ex): As before, but gained at 16th level.

Unnatural Instinct (Ex): At 20th level, your instincts are so finely honed that you may apply them even in places you are not familiar with, granting you an uncanny sense of what does and does not belong. Your Natural Instinct ability now applies even in unnatural or manmade environments.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Swashbucklers are proficient with all light and martial weapons, light armor, shields, and a single light or one-handed exotic weapon of your choice. Some of the swashbuckler’s class features are dependent on being no more than light-armored and not encumbered.

Maneuvers: You being your career with knowledge of five martial maneuvers. The disciplines available to you are Diamond Mind, Iron Heart, Setting Sun, and Tiger Claw. Once you know a maneuver, you must ready it before you can use it (see Maneuvers Readied, below). You learn additional maneuvers at higher levels, as shown on the class progression table. You must meet a maneuver’s prerequisites to learn it.

Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even swashbuckler level after that (6th, 8th, 10th, and so on), you can choose to learn a new maneuver in place of one you already know. In effect, you lose the old maneuver in place of the new one. You can choose a new maneuver of any level you like, as long as you observe your restriction on the highest-level maneuvers you know; you need not replace the old maneuver with a maneuver of the same level. You can swap only a single maneuver at any given level.

Maneuvers Readied: You can ready all five maneuvers you know at 1st level, but as you advance in level and learn more maneuvers, you must choose which maneuvers to ready. You ready maneuvers by exercising for 5 minutes. The maneuvers you choose remain readied until you decide to exercise again and change them. You need not sleep or rest for any long period of time in order to ready your maneuvers; any time you spend 5 minutes in exercise, you can change your readied maneuvers.

You begin an encounter with all your readied maneuvers unexpended, regardless of how many times you might have already used them since you chose them. When you initiate a maneuver, you expend it for the current encounter, so each of your readied maneuvers can be used once per encounter (unless you recover them, as described below).

Swashbucklers are similar among martial adepts to the crusader, though rather than the divine, swashbucklers trust in the whims of fortune and fate to grant them the right skills at the right times. As such, you do not control access to your readied maneuvers. Before you take your first action in an encounter, two of your readied maneuvers (randomly determined) are granted to you. The rest of your readied maneuvers are withheld, currently inaccessible. At the end of each turn, one previously withheld maneuver (again, randomly determined) is granted to you, and thus becomes accessible for your next turn and subsequent turns.

You can freely choose to initiate any maneuver that is currently granted when your turn begins, but you cannot initiate a withheld maneuver. If you choose not to employ a maneuver in a given round, your currently granted maneuvers remain available, and a previously withheld maneuver is granted, as described above. In other words, it doesn’t matter if you use your maneuvers or not—at the end of each of your turns, one withheld maneuver from your selection of readied maneuvers is granted to you. Over the course of a few rounds, all of your maneuvers will eventually be granted.

If, at the end of your turn, you cannot be granted a maneuver because you have no withheld maneuvers remaining, you recover all expended maneuvers, and a new pair of readied maneuvers is granted to you. Randomly determine which of your maneuvers are granted and which are withheld. At the end of your next turn, a withheld maneuver is granted to you, and the whole process of leaping into the arms of fortune begins again.

You begin an encounter with an additional granted maneuver at 10th level (bringing your total to three), and again at 20th level (bringing your total to four). You may not take the Extra Granted Maneuver feat to increase this.

Stances Known: You begin play with knowledge of one stance from the Diamond Mind, Iron Heart, Setting Sun, or Tiger Claw discipline. At 4th, 10th, and 16th level, you can choose an additional stance. Unlike maneuvers, stances are not expended, and you do not have to ready them. All the stances you know are available to you at all times, and you can change the stance you currently use as a swift action. A stance is an extraordinary ability unless otherwise stated in the stance description. Unlike maneuvers, you cannot learn a new stance at higher levels in place of one you already know.

Weapon Finesse (Ex): As before.

Grace (Ex): You gain a +1 bonus to dodge AC and initiative. This bonus increases by +1 at level 5 and again every 5 levels thereafter. This bonus only applies if you are wearing light or no armor and are unencumbered.

Dramatic Entrance (Ex): At level 2 or above, you leap into battle just at the nick of time, making a spectacular display of your timely arrival. In the opening round of combat or in the moments leading up to combat, you may ignore damage caused by your entrance up to an amount equal to twice your class level, such as from breaking through a window, leaping through flames, or falling from a great height. In addition, during that round you may charge over terrain that would normally slow your movement, as the Acrobatic Charge ability.

Strength of Intellect (Ex): You have confidence that your superior planning and intellect will always win the day. At 2nd level, you may add your Intelligence modifier to your Will saves.

Dashing Strike (Ex): At 3rd level, you gain the ability to channel your sheer flair into your attack, taking advantage of your opponent’s opening to deliver a devastating and picturesque hit. Once per encounter, whenever you make an attack of opportunity or an attack against an enemy without their Dex bonus to AC (be it on a standard attack, a part of a strike, or a single swing of a full-round attack), you may add your Charisma bonus to the attack roll and add your class level to the damage roll. This ability may only be used with an attack from a light or finesse-able weapon (such as whip or rapier). At level 14, you gain an additional use of this ability per encounter, but you may not use this ability on more than a single attack per round.

Combat Reflexes (Ex): At 4th level, you gain Combat Reflexes as a bonus feat as long as you are unarmed or light armored and are not encumbered.

Dramatic Acrobatics (Ex): At level 6, you learn to use your showmanship to drive your acrobatic maneuverings to success. You may add your Charisma bonus to Balance, Climb, Jump, and Tumble checks as long as you are unarmored or light armored and are not encumbered.

Strike of Insight (Ex): At 7th level, you are able to guide your attacks precisely against your opponent’s weak points. You gain an insight bonus to confirm critical hits equal to your Intelligence modifier.

Dramatic Irony (Ex): At 8th level, you learn to use witticism and subterfuge to lower your opponent’s guard. You may now feint as a swift action (if you have the Improved Feint feat, this becomes a free action that can be performed once per round). If your feint is successful, the target loses its Dex bonus to AC against all attacks you make this turn. In addition, if you make a witty pun or spout a catchphrase while making this feint, you gain a bonus to your feint equal to half class level (DM determines whether your pun or catchphrase qualifies).

Dramatic Moment (Ex): At level 12, you know that heroes make their own drama. Though sheer panache, you are able to purposefully give the appearance of failure, only to snatch success at the last dramatic moment. Once per day, you may reroll the result of a failed attack roll, skill check, ability check, or saving throw, adding your Charisma bonus to the reroll. You must take the result of the second roll, even if it is worse than the first. At level 17, you may use this ability twice a day, though you may not use this ability more than once per round; after all, no one likes a repeat performance.

Acrobatic Mastery (Ex): As before, but this also extends to Balance and Climb checks.

Dramatic Opportunity (Ex): At 16th level, you learn to take advantage of every opening, every opportunity your enemy gives you. Whenever you are to make an attack of opportunity against an enemy, you may use a granted standard action strike against that enemy instead. This strike is expended as normal.

Certainty of Cunning (Ex): At level 18, you weave complex plans within the smallest instant, thinking through the tactics of any given situation even in the middle of a fight, giving you an uncanny ability to predict your opponents’ attacks. As a free action, designate an enemy. You gain your Intelligence bonus as dodge AC to avoid that enemy’s attacks while it remains so designated. You may only designate a single enemy at a time. If you have the Dodge feat, you must designate the same enemy for that feat, and its effects stack.

Dramatic Victory (Ex): At 20th level, you learn that fortune favors the victor. Whenever you defeat or slay an enemy in combat, you may immediately recover all expended maneuvers and have a new set of readied maneuvers granted to you, as if you had ended your turn with no withheld maneuvers remaining. You may choose the specific maneuvers to be granted here, though the total cannot exceed your normal number of granted maneuvers in the first round of combat.

The Crusader recovery method of maneuvers was a surprise, but I can see why it would be a flavorful match for the spontaneity of the Swashbuckler. It is widely considered the best recovery method in ToB, however, and the Swashbuckler's Disciplines are arguably stronger or at least easier to use than the Crusader's Disciplines. (Four Disciplines instead of three, and none of them so dependent on teammates as White Raven.) Still, since the Swashbuckler's other class features aren't very impressive in general, you're probably ok with using the Crusader recovery method. Question: can the Swashbuckler take feats that formerly were specific to the Crusader's mechanics, such as Extra Granted Maneuver? That feat is pretty much automatically selected by all Crusaders. Perhaps not allowing it is exactly the right nerf to quell my fears about the Swashbuckler being a bit too strong ...

Love Dramatic Entrance. Talk about flavor.

Are there any class features that are still Intelligence-dependent? I didn't see any as I looked through the class, but I may have missed something. I hope there is still some INT synergy. While I agree with you that the CW Swashbuckler wasn't nearly as Charisma-dependent as he should have been, I don't think INT is an inappropriate focus either.

My only big problem with the class, though, is Grace. I think it would be much more appropriate for the Swashbuckler to have a full good Reflex save, rather than a "medium save" due to Grace bonuses. If anything, perhaps it would be best to give the class poor Fortitude and good Reflex, then have the Grace ability (possibly renamed) add to Fortitude, AC, and initiative.

Thanks! Yeah, I was really surprised the original didn't get Perform as a class skill. I mean, what kind of swashbucker doesn't know how to sing or dance?

Originally Posted by Draz74

The Crusader recovery method of maneuvers was a surprise, but I can see why it would be a flavorful match for the spontaneity of the Swashbuckler. It is widely considered the best recovery method in ToB, however, and the Swashbuckler's Disciplines are arguably stronger or at least easier to use than the Crusader's Disciplines. (Four Disciplines instead of three, and none of them so dependent on teammates as White Raven.)

Yeah, I was afraid of making it too strong, but those four disciplines are just so fitting. I suppose if I were to cut one out, it would be Tiger Strike, but the jumping and two-weapon maneuvers all seem to fit too well, if you refluff them away from the "predator" standpoint.

Originally Posted by Draz74

Still, since the Swashbuckler's other class features aren't very impressive in general, you're probably ok with using the Crusader recovery method. Question: can the Swashbuckler take feats that formerly were specific to the Crusader's mechanics, such as Extra Granted Maneuver? That feat is pretty much automatically selected by all Crusaders. Perhaps not allowing it is exactly the right nerf to quell my fears about the Swashbuckler being a bit too strong ...

Hmm, that is a possibility. I had written it in there that you can take Extra Granted Maneuver, but it might be a good idea from a balance perspective to avoid allowing that.

What about increasing the number of readied maneuvers instead? Just increasing readied maneuvers by 1 while leaving granted maneuvers the same? You'd have to rely more on luck to get what you want, so Extra Granted Maneuver might not be so bad.

Originally Posted by Draz74

Love Dramatic Entrance. Talk about flavor.

Heh, thanks. A lot of these are inspired by Elan and the Dashing Swordsman PrC. Certainly helps tip you towards the reckless side.

Originally Posted by Draz74

Are there any class features that are still Intelligence-dependent? I didn't see any as I looked through the class, but I may have missed something. I hope there is still some INT synergy. While I agree with you that the CW Swashbuckler wasn't nearly as Charisma-dependent as he should have been, I don't think INT is an inappropriate focus either.

I avoided Int abilities since I wanted to avoid MAD. You already need three attributes (Dex, Con, Cha), and Int is still necessary for skill points. I can add some Int focus, but I'm just not sure what to add. Insightful Strike isn't so necessary when you can use maneuvers like, well, Insightful Strike.

Originally Posted by Draz74

My only big problem with the class, though, is Grace. I think it would be much more appropriate for the Swashbuckler to have a full good Reflex save, rather than a "medium save" due to Grace bonuses. If anything, perhaps it would be best to give the class poor Fortitude and good Reflex, then have the Grace ability (possibly renamed) add to Fortitude, AC, and initiative.

I see your point. I originally wanted good Reflex save, but having two good saves seemed a little strong, and Fortitude was more important. Now that I think about it though, you do have Diamond Mind so weak saves can be made up for (if you're a little lucky with granted maneuvers). This could make for some Int synergy though, if I can think of some reason for Int to Fortitude.

The whole point of Insightful Strike is to give swashbucklers good damage without having to have high Strength (and it failed, because you still need Power Attack). It just doesn't seem to serve much of a purpose, mechanics-wise or fluff-wise, when you have things like Ruby Nightmare Blade, Death from Above, and Greater Insightful Strike to do your damage for you. The various Concentration to damage maneuvers should take the role of Insightful Strike well enough, I'd imagine, and one of them is even called Insightful Strike!

Don't worry, he can take insightful strike again by means of Diamong Mind .

Anyway. Nitpick. It' snot Tiger Strike, it is Tiger Claw.

Also, I think it would be good to change the ranger's fast movement to increments of 10 (+0, +10, +20, +30).

I am not sure how good an idea the four cohorts of the warlord are. Warriors or not. These guys aren't just another four full sets of BAB and hit points. They are 8+ extra skill points to put in things you don't want to give the warlord himself (crafts, Listen, Spot, professions, etc).

Also, I think it would be good to change the ranger's fast movement to increments of 10 (+0, +10, +20, +30).

Most fast movement abilities are in increments of 10, true, but +5s aren't completely without precedent (dervish, for example). But I guess it would be a little neater with +10s. I can do that.

Originally Posted by Draken

I am not sure how good an idea the four cohorts of the warlord are. Warriors or not. These guys aren't just another four full sets of BAB and hit points. They are 8+ extra skill points to put in things you don't want to give the warlord himself (crafts, Listen, Spot, professions, etc).

Well keep in mind, normally you don't get to decide the details of your cohorts. Nice (or lazy) DMs might let you do it, but they'll probably object if you start breaking the system. Besides, there's only so much you can do with skill points when most of the good ones are cross-class. Feats, you can break, but still, you shouldn't be able to decide what they are besides in the most general sense (i.e. melee warrior vs tripper vs archer etc).

Thanks! Yeah, I was really surprised the original didn't get Perform as a class skill. I mean, what kind of swashbucker doesn't know how to sing or dance?

Yeah. I mean, one of the top five most iconic swashbucklers in all of literature is the Scarlet Pimpernel (the other four are the 3 Musketeers ) and what was his very best skill? Disguise.

Yeah, I was afraid of making it too strong, but those four disciplines are just so fitting. I suppose if I were to cut one out, it would be Tiger Strike, but the jumping and two-weapon maneuvers all seem to fit too well, if you refluff them away from the "predator" standpoint.

The easy way to fix this would be to take away Tiger Claw, but create a new feat:

Fencing Dagger StylePrerequisites: Swashbuckler level 1; DEX 15; Two-Weapon Fighting; Jump 6 ranksBenefits: You may now select Tiger Claw maneuvers and stances with your Swashbuckler maneuver progression.
While you wield a weapon in your off-hand, gain a +2 shield bonus to AC. You lose this bonus in any round in which you make an attack with your off-hand. Unlike the usual stacking rules for shield bonuses, this bonus stacks with any bonuses granted by the Two-Weapon Defense feats.

Hmm, that is a possibility. I had written it in there that you can take Extra Granted Maneuver, but it might be a good idea from a balance perspective to avoid allowing that.

What about increasing the number of readied maneuvers instead? Just increasing readied maneuvers by 1 while leaving granted maneuvers the same? You'd have to rely more on luck to get what you want, so Extra Granted Maneuver might not be so bad.

Meh, feels safer to me to just keep the number of readied maneuvers the same, and disallow Extra Granted Maneuver. Increasing the number of readied maneuvers is both good and bad.

I avoided Int abilities since I wanted to avoid MAD. You already need three attributes (Dex, Con, Cha), and Int is still necessary for skill points. I can add some Int focus, but I'm just not sure what to add. Insightful Strike isn't so necessary when you can use maneuvers like, well, Insightful Strike.

Yeah, I noticed when reading over your other classes that we don't really see eye-to-eye on MAD. I'm of the school of thought that MAD is actually good design for a class. (Note that while MAD is often cited as the source of the Monk's weakness, that the Swordsage is just as MAD and yet still powerful.)

Another consequence I'm not sure you've considered about removing Insightful Strike, though: I'm not sure you'll still preserve the light weapon tradition of the Swashbuckler. I could actually imagine Swashbucklers, using your version, who ignore their free Weapon Finesse feat, take Power Attack, and go around mauling things with a Greatsword. I mean, it's not as if Power Attack + greatsword + Emerald Razor isn't a good combo.

I'm not sure how to fix that, because I agree with you that the Swashbuckler doesn't really need an extra damage source so much anymore when he has Diamond Mind maneuvers. Make Grace bonuses only apply when the Swashbuckler has a free hand? Give a free Einhander bonus feat? (Both of these options kind of poke the TWF-Swashbuckler in the eye.)

I see your point. I originally wanted good Reflex save, but having two good saves seemed a little strong, and Fortitude was more important. Now that I think about it though, you do have Diamond Mind so weak saves can be made up for (if you're a little lucky with granted maneuvers). This could make for some Int synergy though, if I can think of some reason for Int to Fortitude.

Yeah, fun idea, but I can't say INT-to-Fort makes any sense.

A couple other issues that have come up as I've thought more about this:

- This class is dangerously good for dipping. If that doesn't bother you, fine. But it could stand to have some of its Level 1 features pushed back a couple levels.
- I'm glad you delayed the 4th stance until 8th-level stances are accessible
- I guess I don't share your hatred of dead levels so much, at least not on classes that get things like maneuvers or spells at every level. Some of the class features you've put into these classes feel like they're not important or flavorful enough to be worth the bookkeeping; they're literally just there to fill in dead levels. Ick. The Swashbuckler isn't actually the worst offender here; it's a problem I have with several of your classes. (For a concrete example -- Rather than the Instinctive Cartographer ability, I'd rather just have Lay of the Land be on the Ranger spell list.)

The easy way to fix this would be to take away Tiger Claw, but create a new feat.

Still, some of the Tiger Claw maneuvers seem fitting even without TWF, like Sudden Leap for example. I think I'll just disallow Extra Granted Maneuver. That should be enough of a nerf to tone him down to crusader level, I hope.

Originally Posted by Draz74

Yeah, I noticed when reading over your other classes that we don't really see eye-to-eye on MAD. I'm of the school of thought that MAD is actually good design for a class. (Note that while MAD is often cited as the source of the Monk's weakness, that the Swordsage is just as MAD and yet still powerful.)

It's not so much MAD itself that I dislike; picking one thing to specialize in is fine, like swordsage can do. But for some of them, it's just that there's almost no reason to take a stat since it only affects a small part of what the class does. Cha for rangers, for example. You get Wild Empathy, but nearly nothing else, and you have three or four other stats you need so there's almost no reason to take it whatsoever. If I can get two or three Int-based abilities for swashbuckler, then that would be fine, but if it's just one thing then it'd be a problem and a waste.

Originally Posted by Draz74

Another consequence I'm not sure you've considered about removing Insightful Strike, though: I'm not sure you'll still preserve the light weapon tradition of the Swashbuckler. I could actually imagine Swashbucklers, using your version, who ignore their free Weapon Finesse feat, take Power Attack, and go around mauling things with a Greatsword. I mean, it's not as if Power Attack + greatsword + Emerald Razor isn't a good combo.

Insightful Strike didn't remove that though, since you can still Power Attack with a rapier or just ignore Insightful Strike altogether since Power Attack does more damage.

I see three different combat styles for my idea of "swashbuckler"; a sword and dagger (TWF) style, a sword and shield (it's called swashbuckler for a reason), and a one-hand sword style. I think all three of those are supported fairly well, though you're right that Power Attack is still an option. What about going with 3/4 Bab? It would weaken the class a lot but it'd also let me give him two good saves as well as enforce the idea of "mobility fighter" by making full attacks less effective. Power Attack also becomes a lot weaker with less Bab, so you're more dependent on maneuvers. Extra Granted Maneuver might not even be so overpowered then. PrC access would be harder though.

Originally Posted by Draz74

I'm not sure how to fix that, because I agree with you that the Swashbuckler doesn't really need an extra damage source so much anymore when he has Diamond Mind maneuvers. Make Grace bonuses only apply when the Swashbuckler has a free hand? Give a free Einhander bonus feat? (Both of these options kind of poke the TWF-Swashbuckler in the eye.)

I don't really want to remove the possibility of TWF and sword/buckler. If it came down to it, I'd rather allow (but discourage) Power Attacking than disallow these styles.

Originally Posted by Draz74

Yeah, fun idea, but I can't say INT-to-Fort makes any sense.

Same here. *shrug*

Originally Posted by Draz74

- This class is dangerously good for dipping. If that doesn't bother you, fine. But it could stand to have some of its Level 1 features pushed back a couple levels.

I'd rather not push back Grace, if only because of my sense of aesthetics, and kicking back Weapon Finesse just screws over 1st level swashbucklers that dump Str. Meh, most ToB classes are really good dips. Two level swordsage for Quick to Act, Weapon Focus, Wis to AC, two stances, and a lot of maneuvers. Doesn't bother me that much in comparison.

Originally Posted by Draz74

- I'm glad you delayed the 4th stance until 8th-level stances are accessible

Yeah, I just used the warblade's stance progression. Much better.

Originally Posted by Draz74

- I guess I don't share your hatred of dead levels so much, at least not on classes that get things like maneuvers or spells at every level. Some of the class features you've put into these classes feel like they're not important or flavorful enough to be worth the bookkeeping; they're literally just there to fill in dead levels. Ick. The Swashbuckler isn't actually the worst offender here; it's a problem I have with several of your classes. (For a concrete example -- Rather than the Instinctive Cartographer ability, I'd rather just have Lay of the Land be on the Ranger spell list.)

I see what you mean; some of them are overloaded with features. I'll try to cull out some of the useless ones.

On a side note, a lot of the favored enemy abilities are a bit of a stretch (literally, in the case of aberrations). If anyone can help me think up better ones, that'd be great.

Spells
I'm not sure if I'm crazy about Rangers having 1st Level spells. Part of the Lore that caused Rangers to get reduced spellcasting is that they aren't instantly at one with nature to the degree that they can call upon Her powers.

Favored Enemy
Your powers are all pretty cool, well thought out, and not ridiculously Over Powered. I like that. I'm not crazy about classifying Dwarves as small humanoids though. They're only like a foot shorter then the average human (4 feet-ish).

Wild Empathy
Charisma to Wisdom makes no sense. Essentially, the Wild Empathy ability allows a Ranger to make Diplomacy checks with animals. Not only that, but you run the risk of your players dumping all their points into Wisdom. Especially if your Ranger takes the Zen Archery feat from Complete Warrior.

Bonus Feat
I don't think your version of the Ranger really needs a bonus feat every 3 levels, but that's just me. I can't want to see what you're gonna do to the Fighter if you're giving the Ranger all this :P.

Woodland Hunter
Fun and fluffy. I like it.

Movement Abilities
All cool, but maybe you want to reserve the Fast Movement ability to only work in Natural areas, such as forests, plains, etc. It really fits the theme of the Ranger better, and someone as outdoorsy as a Ranger might get knocked off step in a place like a huge, sprawing city.

Natural Instict
What?! No Tremor Sense?!

Woodland Sprint
Love it.

Nature's Messengers is interesting, and it really reminds me of "Sojourn" :).

Spells
I'm not sure if I'm crazy about Rangers having 1st Level spells. Part of the Lore that caused Rangers to get reduced spellcasting is that they aren't instantly at one with nature to the degree that they can call upon Her powers.

They don't get spells at 1st level unless they have a good Wisdom score for bonus spells, so I think that shows the greater difficulty rangers have with spellcasting. And mechanistically, I've always hated the fact that rangers and paladins can only cast 1 spell per day at level 7, when a cleric pulls off 6/5/4/3/2 and the druid gets 6/4/3/2/1. You only get 1 or 2 spells per day until level 5 anyway, so I don't think it really contradicts their flavor if rangers can cast so few minor tricks per day in the early levels.

Originally Posted by Golden-Esque

Favored Enemy
Your powers are all pretty cool, well thought out, and not ridiculously Over Powered. I like that. I'm not crazy about classifying Dwarves as small humanoids though. They're only like a foot shorter then the average human (4 feet-ish).

Again, this is mostly because of mechanics. The list of Small humanoids is short enough that I don't want it to be completely ignored. I also couldn't think of any other division of humanoids that makes sense and still have a roughly even division. I'd love to come up with an alternative though, but for now, I'm going to categorize dwarves as "close enough".

Originally Posted by Golden-Esque

Wild Empathy
Charisma to Wisdom makes no sense. Essentially, the Wild Empathy ability allows a Ranger to make Diplomacy checks with animals. Not only that, but you run the risk of your players dumping all their points into Wisdom. Especially if your Ranger takes the Zen Archery feat from Complete Warrior.

Fluff-wise, I think of it as communicating with animals using your greater understanding of nature. Mechanics-wise, it is because Charisma is generally ignored anyway on a ranger. You have a single ability that relies on Charisma, and it's not even that strong of a class feature. On the other hand, you need Strength for damage, Dexterity for attack and AC, Constitution for HP, Intelligence for skill points, and Wisdom for spellcasting. You were almost always better off ignoring Charisma entirely, which was a shame since then Wild Empathy is never used until you're high enough level that the Cha penalty isn't important.

I wouldn't worry about players putting everything into Wisdom just because of this; you still need very high Dexterity to even take most archery feats like Rapid Shot, so Dex is still important. If you want to deal more damage with composite bows, you need some Strength. Constitution is always necessary since everybody needs HP. Intelligence shouldn't be dumped because otherwise you won't have enough skill points. Really, it's still a very MAD class, but now Wild Empathy actually becomes useful.

Originally Posted by Golden-Esque

Bonus Feat
I don't think your version of the Ranger really needs a bonus feat every 3 levels, but that's just me. I can't want to see what you're gonna do to the Fighter if you're giving the Ranger all this :P.

It's to make up for the fact that archers and two-weapon fighters get completely shafted in 3.5. As an archer, you're basically required to have Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Manyshot, and Greater Manyshot, not to mention all of the extremely helpful feats like Improved Precise Shot, Improved Rapid Shot, Improved Skirmish, Ranged Disarm, Ranged Sunder, Ranged Pin, etc. Two Weapon Fighting likewise needs a huge number of feats to be effective. The bonus feats really are important to let you even have a degree of customization left in your feats.

And as for fighter, I'm not touching that train wreck! Fighter doesn't have any class features, nor even much fluff for creating new ones. I really don't see how I can fix that class without basically building a new base class completely from scratch.

Originally Posted by Golden-Esque

Movement Abilities
All cool, but maybe you want to reserve the Fast Movement ability to only work in Natural areas, such as forests, plains, etc. It really fits the theme of the Ranger better, and someone as outdoorsy as a Ranger might get knocked off step in a place like a huge, sprawing city.

I was debating whether to limit it to natural areas or not when I added it, but decided not to. However, put that way, it does make more sense to limit that, so I'll change it.

Heh, actually, both of these two were picked off a WotC article on removing dead levels from PHB base classes (which, incidentally, called the monk a well-built class). I really liked the flavor of them, so I added them here.

Okay, ranger, dragon shaman, and swashbuckler have all been edited based on suggestions. New thoughts?

Swashbuckler:

I still think restricting Extra Granted Maneuver is a wise move balance-wise (and flavorful too), for now, but I could easily imagine that playtesting could prove me wrong and necessitate adding it back in.

Medium BAB: I don't like it. I like to think of the Swashbuckler being exceedingly accurate with his attacks. But I have to admit, it makes sense mechanically as a way to discourage Power Attacking and a balance to the two good saves the class now gets. So I don't like it, but I don't have a better suggestion for now.

Good Fort/Ref saves: Yeah, ok. I still think a poor Fortitude save, backed up by the Mind Over Body maneuver, could be very flavorful, but I understand that the Swashbuckler's random recovery method makes that a very risky tactic. Unless you wanted to homebrew a feat -- in place of Extra Granted Maneuver? -- that lets certain Maneuvers always be Granted.

But if Reflex save is Good, Grace shouldn't give a bonus to it anymore. Grace being a bonus to AC and Initiative should still be powerful enough, IMHO.

INT to Will saves seems very fitting. Again, though, kind of discourages the Swashbuckler from using Diamond Mind save-replacing Maneuvers as much as he could.

Dashing Strike is rather powerful on a per-encounter basis, for a class that already gets full maneuver progression. But maybe it's ok, with its restrictions ... I guess I wouldn't take it out without playtesting first. Is there any reason not to restrict it to one-handed (or light) weapons?

This class is still a ridiculously good one-level dip for many builds. Like, any Rogue.

Dragon Shaman

So, the original Dragon Shaman class, weak as it was, was IMHO very much designed to be a Healer/Support class (or "Leader" in the 4e lexicon). A class that could theoretically fill the Cleric's role. With the way you've given it full BAB, Martial Weapon Proficiency, and taken away all Charisma dependence, I can only assume that you're trying to shift its focus towards being a true Tank/Melee type class (or "Defender" in 4e terms).

If that's so, then you might as well be decisive about it. Take away the Touch of Vitality, and re-evaluate which Auras are still really appropriate. Auras in general are very Leader-like, IMHO, in spite of precedents set by WoW Paladins.

Personally, I'd rather see the Dragon Shaman class keep its focus on the Leader role, but actually do it without sucking.

Ranger

Thanks for listening to feedback about making the class less "cluttered" with minor abilities.

Overall I'm concerned that the new class is rather overpowered, if it has access to spells from Spell Compendium. A Spell-Compendium-wielding Ranger was already considered "just barely underpowered," and you've gone and improved the spellcasting progression, improved the Animal Companion, improved Favored Enemy, and improved Bonus Feat selection.

I definitely approve of consolidating the list of Favored Enemies down to a reasonable selection. The Humanoid classification still needs work, yeah, but the system is already a big improvement.

I didn't read all of the Favored Enemy type-specific effects carefully, I just skimmed; but I liked what I saw in general. Listing all of these effects sure makes the class long and complex, though; I don't suppose it would work to turn these special Favored Enemy effects into balanced Feats instead? Of course they would be added to the available Bonus Feat list.

Natural Instinct (Blindsight) is ... wow. Blindsight is a very powerful effect, and doesn't feel very Ranger-y to me. I think I'd like Blindsense much better. Weaker, yes, but still quite powerful really.

I've been looking into the Swashbuckler and Swordsage for a prefab character for one of my new players and your take on the Swashbuckler seems like what I had in mind for it, although I might just change the Swordsage about a bit instead. I'm still checking out all the maneuvers so I can't say much about your variant's balance in general.

However, I agree with Draz74 that having both a Reflex-bonus from Grace and a good base save make him a tad overpowered. It also feels a bit contrived, mechanics-wise. I'm not sure how the distinction between Swordsage and Swashbuckler works out now that both get Blade Magic, but it seems to me like it makes more sense for the latter to have a strong fortitude save (as per the RAW). I have no idea if this also works fluff-wise though. Good base Reflex and a Grace bonus could probably work if Fort and Will saves were bad.

I love the Dramatic abilities, especially the Dramatic Entry, the bonuses for puns in a feint and your wording of Dramatic Moment.

Now, as for your ranger, it seems like you need to be a bit more careful with the way you word some of its abilities. For instance, Blindsight lacks the "in a natural environment" clause although the description of Natural Instinct already makes this redundant (I also agree that Blindsense would be better, both balance- and fluff-wise).

I'm also confused by the abilities granted by Favored Enemy. It seems like some of these apply in general situations, while others only work against that type of enemy. I haven't studied them in great detail but that could make for a balance issue. It also seems like some of these abilities should only be used against a specific creature type but that you forgot to add that clause. Examples:

+6

Vermin: I'm not sure how you're going to make this work fluff-wise.
+8

Construct: I could see how you might do extra damage against constructs like this, but how are you going to do Bludgeoning damage with regular arrows against humanoids?
+10

Humanoid (Other): Autoconfirm criticals on medium creatures? That sounds wildly overpowered and has very little to do with fighting humanoids.

Vermin: I recommend rewording to "for each size category below small." A Giant shouldn't be getting bonuses on humans, even if he might call them vermin. I'm also a bit concerned about balance here versus Tiny and Fine critters.

In general, it seems like you also blurr the line between "experience fighting this type" and magical powers. From what I understand of the core mechanic, you receive bonuses to fighting these types of creatures because of your experience with them in the past or a devotion to destroying or fighting them. It doesn't make any sense that an Aberration's tentacles are suddenly half their length when they try to hit you, just because you killed a few of them in the past. The same goes for giving out elemental immunities and other abilities that make the monster's abilities weaker instead of making you stronger against them.

Finally, I'm considering changing the progression for Favored Enemy in my games. Basically, the every fifth level advancement would only determine maximum bonuses and selection of new types, while +1 or +2's could be distributed freely up to that limit every other level or so. I think the power level would be similar, but it helps spread out its advancement and gets rid of the annoyance that comes with selecting the order you want to take your Favored Types in.

I still think restricting Extra Granted Maneuver is a wise move balance-wise (and flavorful too), for now, but I could easily imagine that playtesting could prove me wrong and necessitate adding it back in.

Yeah, I'll see how that goes. It's fairly strong already so it really depends.

Originally Posted by Draz74

Medium BAB: I don't like it. I like to think of the Swashbuckler being exceedingly accurate with his attacks. But I have to admit, it makes sense mechanically as a way to discourage Power Attacking and a balance to the two good saves the class now gets. So I don't like it, but I don't have a better suggestion for now.

Yeah, that's pretty much my thought exactly. Mechanical convenience.

Originally Posted by Draz74

Good Fort/Ref saves: Yeah, ok. I still think a poor Fortitude save, backed up by the Mind Over Body maneuver, could be very flavorful, but I understand that the Swashbuckler's random recovery method makes that a very risky tactic. Unless you wanted to homebrew a feat -- in place of Extra Granted Maneuver? -- that lets certain Maneuvers always be Granted.

That's an interesting concept, though I'm not sure how to restrict it so that you don't just use it to grant your damage dealers rather than save maneuvers.

Originally Posted by Draz74

But if Reflex save is Good, Grace shouldn't give a bonus to it anymore. Grace being a bonus to AC and Initiative should still be powerful enough, IMHO.

Oversight; forgot to change that part in the post. That was not intended; fixed.

Originally Posted by Draz74

INT to Will saves seems very fitting. Again, though, kind of discourages the Swashbuckler from using Diamond Mind save-replacing Maneuvers as much as he could.

Diamond Mind save maneuvers are a little too risky to rely on that much. That said, if you dump Int, you may still need Moment of Perfect Mind for Will saves. It's an option.

Originally Posted by Draz74

Dashing Strike is rather powerful on a per-encounter basis, for a class that already gets full maneuver progression. But maybe it's ok, with its restrictions ... I guess I wouldn't take it out without playtesting first. Is there any reason not to restrict it to one-handed (or light) weapons?

Good point, I'll do that.

Originally Posted by Draz74

This class is still a ridiculously good one-level dip for many builds. Like, any Rogue.

Like I said, doesn't really bother me that much. A Swordsage is probably even better for dips because of Shadow Hand and gets very similar things. Mostly, I just rely on Gentlemens' Agreement to prevent too much casual dipping. And it's not like rogues don't need the help.

Originally Posted by Draz74

So, the original Dragon Shaman class, weak as it was, was IMHO very much designed to be a Healer/Support class (or "Leader" in the 4e lexicon). A class that could theoretically fill the Cleric's role. With the way you've given it full BAB, Martial Weapon Proficiency, and taken away all Charisma dependence, I can only assume that you're trying to shift its focus towards being a true Tank/Melee type class (or "Defender" in 4e terms).

Never really liked to think in terms of 4e roles, but I guess it's appropriate here. The problem is that it's pretty hard to make it a good "Leader" class without either A) make him boring to play, and/or B) make him overpowering. Just buffing his healing would turn him into a healbot, and that's never fun (for me at least), and buffing his auras can make him too strong if he's providing a constant +15 damage aura or something, and it still doesn't do much about the fun part.

The best "Leader" archetype that's still fun to play should utilize White Raven maneuvers, which is exactly what I did with the marshal. I really don't want to retread old ground with the dragon shaman, and the only other way I can think of to provide variety as well as a party support focus involves giving him spellcasting, and that's really not what I'm going for here.

Originally Posted by Draz74

If that's so, then you might as well be decisive about it. Take away the Touch of Vitality, and re-evaluate which Auras are still really appropriate. Auras in general are very Leader-like, IMHO, in spite of precedents set by WoW Paladins.

I don't like to shoehorn classes into specific roles though; I prefer just giving options. If someone wants to focus on combat with aura/healing support on the side, that's fine. If someone would rather be a healbot with decent melee ability when cornered, that works also.

On that note, I'm thinking about returning Touch of Vitality to Charisma-dependent, but powering it a little more. To do that though, I'm going to need some other things that Charisma would be good for besides just Touch of Vitality, so it doesn't become an easily dumped ability. Maybe something to do with auras or Dragon Ally?

Originally Posted by Draz74

Overall I'm concerned that the new class is rather overpowered, if it has access to spells from Spell Compendium. A Spell-Compendium-wielding Ranger was already considered "just barely underpowered," and you've gone and improved the spellcasting progression, improved the Animal Companion, improved Favored Enemy, and improved Bonus Feat selection.

It may have been "just barely underpowered' if you optimize it well, but an unoptimized ranger is barely above useless, since he is utilizing the two weakest combat styles in the game. The old animal companion was quite bad at anything but flanking, and he was almost always feat-starved before. First and foremost, I want to make it decent right off the bat, without needing too much optimization to at least be playable.

I need playtesting to be sure, but it doesn't seem too strong compared to ToB and certainly not to casters. With skirmish, you're pretty much restricted to certain (very feat-intensive) methods of combat, like Manyshot and Bounding Assault, unless you manage to get some reliable form of swift-movement or something. The Favored Enemy bonuses generally aren't that strong except in specific instances, and the improved spellcasting progression probably just saves you money on a few extra Pearls of Power. The Bonus Feats give the biggest power boosts I think, and I'm reluctant to cut those since your combat styles are just too feat intensive.

Originally Posted by Draz74

I definitely approve of consolidating the list of Favored Enemies down to a reasonable selection. The Humanoid classification still needs work, yeah, but the system is already a big improvement.

Yeah, that was one of my biggest gripes with the old ranger. Also, a lot of categories were often auto-picks and most were almost always ignored (Outsider [Evil] and Undead, for example, versus Humanoid [Gnome] or Ooze). I tried to make up for that by consolidating the less-picked ones as well as make the special abilities for the rarer categories better.

And yeah, need a better split for humanoids. Not sure what would make sense, though.

Originally Posted by Draz74

I didn't read all of the Favored Enemy type-specific effects carefully, I just skimmed; but I liked what I saw in general. Listing all of these effects sure makes the class long and complex, though; I don't suppose it would work to turn these special Favored Enemy effects into balanced Feats instead? Of course they would be added to the available Bonus Feat list.

It's not that complex; just pick a category and get the ability related to that category. It's definitely long though. I'm not sure what you mean by turning them into feats though; most of the abilities are too weak to be feats (immunity to Frightful Presence, for example).

Originally Posted by Draz74

Natural Instinct (Blindsight) is ... wow. Blindsight is a very powerful effect, and doesn't feel very Ranger-y to me. I think I'd like Blindsense much better. Weaker, yes, but still quite powerful really.

I see what you mean. Yeah, that does make sense; I'll change it.

Originally Posted by Draz74

I love Natural Instinct (Foresight) as a capstone.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Lilienthal

However, I agree with Draz74 that having both a Reflex-bonus from Grace and a good base save make him a tad overpowered. It also feels a bit contrived, mechanics-wise. I'm not sure how the distinction between Swordsage and Swashbuckler works out now that both get Blade Magic, but it seems to me like it makes more sense for the latter to have a strong fortitude save (as per the RAW). I have no idea if this also works fluff-wise though. Good base Reflex and a Grace bonus could probably work if Fort and Will saves were bad.

Yeah, that was an oversight; forgot to edit it in the post. Sorry about that.

Originally Posted by Lilienthal

I love the Dramatic abilities, especially the Dramatic Entry, the bonuses for puns in a feint and your wording of Dramatic Moment.

Heh, thanks!

Originally Posted by Lilienthal

Now, as for your ranger, it seems like you need to be a bit more careful with the way you word some of its abilities. For instance, Blindsight lacks the "in a natural environment" clause although the description of Natural Instinct already makes this redundant (I also agree that Blindsense would be better, both balance- and fluff-wise).

It was already in the Natural Instinct description so I didn't add it into the Blindsight one. I can see the potential for confusion though, so I added it now, and switched to Blindsense instead.

Originally Posted by Lilienthal

I'm also confused by the abilities granted by Favored Enemy. It seems like some of these apply in general situations, while others only work against that type of enemy. I haven't studied them in great detail but that could make for a balance issue. It also seems like some of these abilities should only be used against a specific creature type but that you forgot to add that clause.

I wanted abilities that are related to the specific enemies but can also potentially be useful even outside that group. I tried to balance it so that the less commonly-seen creatures (like Vermin) get better/more general abilities while more common creatures get more specific ones.

And a lot of these are a bit of a stretch when it came to coming up with ideas, so suggestions are definitely welcome.

Originally Posted by Lilienthal

Examples:

+6

Vermin: I'm not sure how you're going to make this work fluff-wise.
+8

Construct: I could see how you might do extra damage against constructs like this, but how are you going to do Bludgeoning damage with regular arrows against humanoids?

I'm guessing you mean the +8 bonus for Vermin? It would probably be something like you're so used to fighting creatures that use poison or disease that you develop herbal remedies that give you immunity to them. For construct, it would be just firing your arrows in a certain way or with a certain amount of force to make them bludgeon on impact rather than pierce. I didn't want any of them to be too restricted to one category, though they would be most useful against their own category.

Originally Posted by Lilienthal

+10

Humanoid (Other): Autoconfirm criticals on medium creatures? That sounds wildly overpowered and has very little to do with fighting humanoids.

Vermin: I recommend rewording to "for each size category below small." A Giant shouldn't be getting bonuses on humans, even if he might call them vermin. I'm also a bit concerned about balance here versus Tiny and Fine critters.

Autoconfirming doesn't seem overpowered; you still have to threaten a critical hit, and if you're attack bonus is high enough for that, then it probably will make a critical hit on average anyway. It's not much different from just a +10 to critical confirmation, and it does only come at level 20.

For Vermin, I wanted these to represent you using your learning of these creatures to expand into more generalized combat. So if you learn to fight Vermin very well, you should be able to generalize those methods for other smaller creatures. Vermin's abilities are usually more powerful than others because Vermin are so rarely encountered, so I need to give some incentive to make it a viable option.

As for balance, there are very very few high level creatures smaller than Small. And even if there are, they gain progressively higher attack bonuses for their size. A Fine creature gets +8 to attack; a Medium ranger gets +8 natural armor AC in response, just canceling out the bonus. It's not very high and again, it is a level 20 ability for a rarely seen creature type.

Originally Posted by Lilienthal

In general, it seems like you also blurr the line between "experience fighting this type" and magical powers. From what I understand of the core mechanic, you receive bonuses to fighting these types of creatures because of your experience with them in the past or a devotion to destroying or fighting them. It doesn't make any sense that an Aberration's tentacles are suddenly half their length when they try to hit you, just because you killed a few of them in the past. The same goes for giving out elemental immunities and other abilities that make the monster's abilities weaker instead of making you stronger against them.

The tentacles I was thinking was because you learn methods for dodging and evading them effectively so that they need to get closer to you to get through your evasive maneuvers. It was also because aberrations are a wide enough category that I couldn't think of anything better. Fire resistance was because you become more tolerant of fire damage after being exposed to it for so long, though I admit that fire immunity doesn't make much sense. Again, couldn't think of a good enough capstone there.

Would it help if I add fluff explanations before each ability? I didn't do it before because I thought it would just make that section longer and more involved than it already is, but I can do that if too many of them defy explanation. And I definitely need some help with new ideas to replace some of the sketchier abilities, since I want to avoid plain +stat type abilities.

Originally Posted by Lilienthal

Finally, I'm considering changing the progression for Favored Enemy in my games. Basically, the every fifth level advancement would only determine maximum bonuses and selection of new types, while +1 or +2's could be distributed freely up to that limit every other level or so. I think the power level would be similar, but it helps spread out its advancement and gets rid of the annoyance that comes with selecting the order you want to take your Favored Types in.

I like that idea. I'll look into it. Can you give a little more detail on how you're picking new types and how you're distributing the bonuses? Is it still a new Favored Enemy every 5 levels?

I'm guessing you mean the +8 bonus for Vermin? It would probably be something like you're so used to fighting creatures that use poison or disease that you develop herbal remedies that give you immunity to them. For construct, it would be just firing your arrows in a certain way or with a certain amount of force to make them bludgeon on impact rather than pierce. I didn't want any of them to be too restricted to one category, though they would be most useful against their own category.

Ah, no, I meant the +4 ability here. Swarms have these special abilities due to their structure, and it makes very little sense to be able to half-damage them with arrows for instance. Likewise, flanking also requires someone else to flank with you, who is not likely to have the same expertise at fighting vermin as you, which is terribly unintuitive.

Autoconfirming doesn't seem overpowered; you still have to threaten a critical hit, and if you're attack bonus is high enough for that, then it probably will make a critical hit on average anyway. It's not much different from just a +10 to critical confirmation, and it does only come at level 20.

Hmm, I didn't keep the level requirement in mind here I suppose.

The tentacles I was thinking was because you learn methods for dodging and evading them effectively so that they need to get closer to you to get through your evasive maneuvers. It was also because aberrations are a wide enough category that I couldn't think of anything better. Fire resistance was because you become more tolerant of fire damage after being exposed to it for so long, though I admit that fire immunity doesn't make much sense. Again, couldn't think of a good enough capstone there.

I can see how that might work, but that aspect of dodging doesn't really compare well to the standard implementation of it, that being that you have a chance to dodge, not a guarantee of doing so at a certain range. And while I understand the Poison Immunity from Vermin, I doubt you could build up a similar resistance to fire.

Would it help if I add fluff explanations before each ability? I didn't do it before because I thought it would just make that section longer and more involved than it already is, but I can do that if too many of them defy explanation. And I definitely need some help with new ideas to replace some of the sketchier abilities, since I want to avoid plain +stat type abilities.

That would likely be a good idea for the finished product, and I'll see if I can come up with anything.

I like that idea. I'll look into it. Can you give a little more detail on how you're picking new types and how you're distributing the bonuses? Is it still a new Favored Enemy every 5 levels?

It's still a very crude idea, but I can jot down the basics. Yes you pick a Favored Enemy at first level and every fifth level thereafter (5th, 10th, 15th and 20). The difference is that you no longer automatically upgrade your previously selected bonuses by +2 when you do so. You are instead able to distribute these bonuses freely amongst the enemy types you have selected, up to a maximum bonus per type depending on your level. The problem is now how to set up that progression. Your changes to the Favored Enemy mechanic give the ability a new power level, while I have a hard time estimating the same for the standard ability.

At 20th level your combined bonuses will total +30, divided into +10, +8, +6, +4 and +2. Your maximum bonus will either remain the same as it normally is (+4 at fifth level, +6 at 10th level, etc.) or it might change depending on how fast you want it to scale. The same goes for the amount of bonuses you get per level. Thinking that out will require a deal of math, which I'll save for tomorrow, since I need my rest. I'll think it through some more at a later date.

Also, if you change up the way bonuses are handed out, there's nothing stopping you from changing the rest of the mechanic. One variant would be to give no bonuses to attack etc., but to work purely with conditional special abilities or stat bonuses. Although such a thing would likely require a lot of balancing.

All of the following are Class Features of the assassin prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Assassins are proficient with the crossbow (hand, light, or heavy), dagger (any type), dart, rapier, sap, shortbow (normal and composite), and short sword. Assassins are proficient with light armor but not with shields.

Maneuvers: At each level, you gain a new maneuver known from the Shadow Hand discipline. You must meet a maneuver’s prerequisite to learn it. You add your full assassin level to your initiator level to determine your total initiator level and your highest-level maneuvers known.

At 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th levels, you gain an additional maneuver readied per day.

Stances Known: At 2nd, 5th, and 9th levels, you learn a new martial stance from the Shadow Hand discipline. You must meet a stance’s prerequisite to learn it.

Poison Use: As before.

Sneak Attack (Ex): As before, but the progression changes to the table above.

Death Attack (Ex): As before.

Cunning Shadows: All Shadow Hand maneuvers that use Wisdom to determine Difficulty Class for saving throws now use your Intelligence to determine it instead if your Intelligence score is higher than your Wisdom score.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex): As before.

Poison Resistance (Ex): At level 3, you gain a +2 bonus to all saves against poisons. At level 6, this becomes a +4 bonus, improving to poison immunity at level 9.

Masterful Brew (Ex): At 3rd level, you learn a myriad of ways to improve your own poisonous concoctions using stronger and more efficient methods. When Crafting a poison, reduce the cost of the raw materials to 1/5 of the poison’s base price (rather than the normal 1/3). In addition, you gain additional options when crafting poisons:

• Raise the Craft DC by a multiple of 5 and increase the base poison price by 50% of the original per 5 Craft DC raised to increase the save DC of the poison by +3 per 5 Craft DC raised. For example, huge spider venom (BoVD) has Injury DC 22, costs 1000 gp (200 gp for materials), and has Craft DC 20. Increasing the Craft DC by two multiples of 5 (Craft DC 30) raises the cost to 2000 gp (400 gp for materials) and raises the save DC to Injury DC 28.
• Raise the Craft DC by a multiple of 10 and increase the base poison price by 100% of the original per 10 Craft DC raised to increase the damage dealt by 200% of the original per 10 DC raised. For example, huge spider venom (BoVD) deals 1d8 initial Str damage and 1d8 secondary Str damage, and costs 1000 gp (200 gp for raw materials) with a Craft DC of 20. You can raise the Craft DC by two multiples of 10 (Craft DC 40) to increase the cost to 5000 gp (1000 gp for materials) and have it deal triple its normal damage (3d8 initial Str damage and 3d8 secondary Str damage).

These two effects can be stacked to increase both save DC and damage. So applying +5 Craft DC for increasing save DC and applying +10 Craft DC for extra damage at the same time on huge spider venom ends up with a Injury DC 25 poison that deals 2d8 initial Str damage and 2d8 secondary Str damage all for the price of Craft DC 35 and 3500 gp (700 gp for materials).

Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): As before.

Rapid Toxin (Sp): At 6th level, you learn to create poisons with supernatural speed. You may use Fabricate as a spell-like ability for the purpose of Crafting poisons in a very short amount of time. You still need the raw materials on hand for the poison to be made on hand. You still need to make a Craft (Poisonmaking) check to make the poison.

Hide in Plain Sight (Su): As before.

Lingering Poison (Ex): At 9th level, you learn to get maximum efficiency out of poisons that you brew, allowing you an additional method of increasing the potency of a poison. When Crafting a poison, you may raise the Craft DC by a multiple of 5 and increase the base poison price by 50% of the original per +5 Craft DC to cause the secondary effect to apply one additional time after the first, a minute after the previous secondary effect.

For example, huge spider venom (BoVD) costs 1000 gp (200 gp for materials), has a Craft DC 20, and deals 1d8 initial Str damage as well as 1d8 secondary Str damage a minute after the initial. Using this ability, you can raise the Craft DC by +10 (Craft DC 30) and raise the price to 2000 gp (400 gp for materials) in order to cause the huge spider venom to deal an additional 1d8 secondary Str damage (with another saving throw) a minute after the first secondary damage, and another 1d8 Str damage again after the second secondary damage.

In effect, the poison damage now comes as primary, secondary, secondary, and secondary, each with 1 minute delay in between. You can combine this with Masterful Brew, and anything that modifies the poison’s secondary effect (such as Masterful Brew raising its DC or damage) modifies the additional secondary effects from this ability as well.

Poison Cloud (Su): At 10th level, after carefully studying a target for a period of time, you are able to make a very precise attack on a target’s blood vessels with a poisoned weapon in such a way as to spray the poison to additional targets. When you kill a target with a Death Attack using a poisoned weapon, you send a spray of poisoned blood into nearby creatures, infecting all those within 10 ft of the target with the same poison. Only contact poisons may be used with this ability.

All of the following are Class Features of the eldritch knight prestige class.

Spells per Day/Spells Known: Every level besides 1st and 7th, you gain new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if you had also gained a level in whatever arcane spellcasting class in which you could cast 2nd level spells before you added the prestige class level. You do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If you had more than one arcane spellcasting class in which you could cast 2nd level spells before you became an eldritch knight, you must decide to which class you add each level of eldritch knight for the purpose of determining spells per day.

Martial Spell: Once per encounter, when you make a standard action attack, you may cast a spell with casting time of one standard action as a swift action. This spell may be cast either before or after the attack, though you must declare that you are using this ability beforehand.

At level 4, you are able to use this twice per encounter. At level 7, you can do this using full-round attacks rather than standard action attacks, allowing you to cast the spell before, after, or between attacks. At 10th level, you are finally able to use this ability three times per encounter.

Armored Caster: You no longer suffer Arcane Spell Failure when casting arcane spells in light armor. You still suffer Arcane Spell Failure when casting in medium or heavy armor or when wearing a shield. At 5th level, you no longer suffer Arcane Spell Failure when wearing a shield, and at 8th level, you may wear medium armor without Arcane Spell Failure either.

Improved Combat Casting: At 3rd level, you gain greater ability to cast spells in the thick of combat. You gain +3 bonus to Concentration checks when casting defensively or when grappled or pinned. This bonus stacks with all other sources of bonuses to Concentration checks, including the Combat Casting feat.

This improves to a +6 bonus at level 6 and at 9th level, you gain complete ability to cast even in the most difficult of situations, allowing you to automatically succeed on Concentration checks for casting defensively or under grapples or pins.

Good job on these classes, the dragon shaman and marshal needed some real love.

Originally Posted by PId6

Martial Spell: Once per encounter, when you make a standard action attack, you may cast a spell with casting time of one standard action as a swift action. This spell may be cast either before or after the attack, though you must declare that you are using this ability beforehand.

Is this like the Duskblade's ability or does it apply to most arcane spells? I've played with Duskblades before and they are hindered by the touch spell limitation.

It applies to all spells, so it's basically a conditional Quicken that applies only when you make attacks. The Duskblade ability has the advantage that you can use your touch spells multiple times in a full attack, but is limited by Duskblade's small spell list. I didn't want to copy that here mostly because that can get very broken very fast if you start applying better spells to your full attacks, like Poison or Shivering Touch.

Hello there, I looked at the Arcane Archer and the Dragon Shaman as those two were the only ones that interests me at the moment.

Your Arcane Archer build is incredibly awesome looking, but severely unbalanced because of 2 of its abilities.

Versatile Enchantments and Quiver of Magic.

The Quiver of Magic ability is totally unbalanced namely because it is possible to literally add 8D6 fire damage through scorching ray to all of your attacks in a given round as long as you have the spell slot to cast it with. There are many other good ranged touch spells that can be exploited as well. I wouldn't object to like twice a round, but expending 1 spell slot for all your, at least 4, attacks late game is pretty silly.

Versatile Enchantments also needs one stipulation. Say that any magical enhancements from a bow does not stack with the enhancement + x ability. I was told that as the wording of versatile enchantments stands now, you can conceivably get a + 5 bow and convert all the enhance arrow abilities to something else. Think of what could be done to exploit this if its not fixed.

As for the Dragon Shaman, They are meant more to be a defense and support monkey with healing touch and ranged breathe weapon attacks. I would honestly restrict their proficiencies to certain martial weapons, decrease the HD to 10 and decrease the BAB back to 3/4. If you really feel like making it a front line fighter you will have to remove the abilities that make a Dragon Shaman a Dragon Shaman to do so and balance things out. i.e. Touch of Vitality and the Breathe Weapon.

I do however like your change with Touch of Vitality to make it fully dependant on CON. If you decide the change Dragon Shaman to be support again my advice, if you want to make Dragon Shaman more effective, is to increase the dragon shaman's effective healing pool by multiplying it by 4 x class level rather than 2 x class level. To Eliminate the possibilities of Bomb heals that make clerics obsolete, Make the dragon shaman heal as if it is casting Cure X wounds at the appropriate cleric level. The Amount it heals is taken from the healing pool and never exceeds it. I would also make this healing available sooner and divide the healing conditions where appropriate at level 6 and 11.

The Aura is fine as it currently stands.

Benedictus, Venit in Nomine, in Nomine, Domini, Hossanna in Excelsis........

One other thing, are you really sure that Dragon Shamans should get access to Dragon Ally? I mean I'm sure it could be useful if the dragon shaman has money it cannot use any time soon and is stranded on a desert island, but as long as the Dragon Shaman has communications lets say "elsewhere" the Dragon Shaman could just send word to nearby kingdoms th at it is looking to find the services of a dragon for the Dragon's profit. I would honestly either remove that ability altogether and create a capstone that basically does the Greater Dragon Ally once a week because by the time the party is 20th level they are pretty much either overwealthed, or could create a business to generate wealth to find the services of Dragons with practical ease.

Something else I've been kind of wondering about this class lately. Dragon Shamans slowly become more Dragony because they essentially worship dragons and want to become like them. Dragon Disciples somehow become Half Dragons and gain the Dragon type if I remember correctly. So, why don't Dragong Shamans have a Draconic Apotheosis anyways? It makes more sense to me to have something like that rather than Dragon Ally.

Benedictus, Venit in Nomine, in Nomine, Domini, Hossanna in Excelsis........

Hello there, I looked at the Arcane Archer and the Dragon Shaman as those two were the only ones that interests me at the moment.

Thanks for taking the time to review! Let's see if I can address some of your concerns.

Originally Posted by Averagedog

The Quiver of Magic ability is totally unbalanced namely because it is possible to literally add 8D6 fire damage through scorching ray to all of your attacks in a given round as long as you have the spell slot to cast it with. There are many other good ranged touch spells that can be exploited as well. I wouldn't object to like twice a round, but expending 1 spell slot for all your, at least 4, attacks late game is pretty silly.

It only works on touch-range attacks, not rays, so Scorching Ray won't work here. Some of the best ones to use are Vampiric Touch and Shocking Grasp (and Shivering Touch, but hopefully that's banned anyway since it's absolutely broken), which isn't any different from the Duskblade's ability.

In addition, these are no longer touch attacks since you're using arrows to deliver them, so your chances of hitting with each shot probably aren't that great, compared to touch attacks. The damage isn't nearly that high when you take all those factors into account, and it isn't anything classes like Duskblade can't do. I'm more worried about using spells like Irresistible Dance along with it though, but that's 8th level and Mind Affecting so it shouldn't be too bad when you're so high up.

Originally Posted by Averagedog

Versatile Enchantments also needs one stipulation. Say that any magical enhancements from a bow does not stack with the enhancement + x ability. I was told that as the wording of versatile enchantments stands now, you can conceivably get a + 5 bow and convert all the enhance arrow abilities to something else. Think of what could be done to exploit this if its not fixed.

One of the biggest problems with the old Arcane Archer is that he can't get special abilities on his arrows (without his class feature going to waste), which is something that every other archer can have besides him. And besides, before, you could just as easily use a +5 arrow and just have special abilities on your bow, and they stack just as well (though with less versatility). This just lets you reverse things if you want to. I don't see that much potential for abuse here that you couldn't already do before, and a normal archer can't do as well.

Originally Posted by Averagedog

As for the Dragon Shaman, They are meant more to be a defense and support monkey with healing touch and ranged breathe weapon attacks. I would honestly restrict their proficiencies to certain martial weapons, decrease the HD to 10 and decrease the BAB back to 3/4. If you really feel like making it a front line fighter you will have to remove the abilities that make a Dragon Shaman a Dragon Shaman to do so and balance things out. i.e. Touch of Vitality and the Breathe Weapon.

I agree that they were meant for support, but the problem is that they weren't good and they weren't fun. Giving them better combat ability is meant to allow them to have more options, in order to be able to contribute in various different ways if necessary. I would love to make him more support-focused if I can, but that's only if I can find some other way to give the class more options and keep it fun to play.

The d12 is mostly for flavor reasons, since dragons get d12 as do dragon disciples. It doesn't really make that much difference besides a little extra HP, so it seems harmless.

Originally Posted by Averagedog

I do however like your change with Touch of Vitality to make it fully dependant on CON. If you decide the change Dragon Shaman to be support again my advice, if you want to make Dragon Shaman more effective, is to increase the dragon shaman's effective healing pool by multiplying it by 4 x class level rather than 2 x class level. To Eliminate the possibilities of Bomb heals that make clerics obsolete, Make the dragon shaman heal as if it is casting Cure X wounds at the appropriate cleric level. The Amount it heals is taken from the healing pool and never exceeds it. I would also make this healing available sooner and divide the healing conditions where appropriate at level 6 and 11.

Problem is, in my opinion, playing a healbot isn't fun. That's the problem with most pure support-types, like the old marshal and dragon shaman, and even core bard. You stand around giving your aura/song, and watch your allies beat the enemy, dropping healing spells/touches when necessary. I would much rather have a class that can do something besides breathe once, heal for 1d4 rounds, breathe again, heal again, breathe more. Currently, the only idea I have with that is combat or spellcasting, and I don't want to make this a spellcaster. Better ideas are welcome though.

Originally Posted by Kobold-Bard

By god I love your classes, first the Dragon Disciple and now this

Any plans to recreate the Mystic Theurge?

Thanks!

Probably not. There are plenty of mystic theurge rewrites on this very board, and I don't feel like I can bring anything new to the table.

Originally Posted by Averagedog

One other thing, are you really sure that Dragon Shamans should get access to Dragon Ally? I mean I'm sure it could be useful if the dragon shaman has money it cannot use any time soon and is stranded on a desert island, but as long as the Dragon Shaman has communications lets say "elsewhere" the Dragon Shaman could just send word to nearby kingdoms th at it is looking to find the services of a dragon for the Dragon's profit. I would honestly either remove that ability altogether and create a capstone that basically does the Greater Dragon Ally once a week because by the time the party is 20th level they are pretty much either overwealthed, or could create a business to generate wealth to find the services of Dragons with practical ease.

Huh? I'm not sure what's your objection here. He doesn't need it because he can get the same thing elsewhere? It's probably not easy to just find a dragon when you want it without help, and you are getting a discount with the class ability, which probably makes it a lot easier than if you're hiring one normally. There's also the issue that if you find one normally, there's no guarantee that they'd help, while this does guarantee it. It doesn't seem harmful to have this, since it's thematically appropriate (calling on the aid of your totem dragon) and potentially useful. I mean, sorcerers and wizards get it for a reason, so it has to have some use. The cost isn't that high for a high level character, and you can reduce it to even lower if you have good social skills.

Originally Posted by Averagedog

Something else I've been kind of wondering about this class lately. Dragon Shamans slowly become more Dragony because they essentially worship dragons and want to become like them. Dragon Disciples somehow become Half Dragons and gain the Dragon type if I remember correctly. So, why don't Dragong Shamans have a Draconic Apotheosis anyways? It makes more sense to me to have something like that rather than Dragon Ally.

I think part of the reason that dragon disciples get it while dragon shamans don't is because dragon disciples are suppose to have dragon blood inside them, while dragon shamans don't necessarily have it. But it does make some sense though, so I might grant it at 20th level, but I'm not sure the stat boosts are appropriate here. Stat boosts are generally given only by PrCs, so I don't know if I want this class to give them.